In the name of Christ, amen. August 9, 1348. Phylippinus, son of late Laurentius olim Fratris Phyllippi, butcher of the parish of San Felice, healthy in mind and senses, but sick in body makes his will thus. For the benefit of his soul, he gives land in Borgo Panigale to the church of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera in Bologna so that an altar be built in that church to honor St James and that one priest be chosen to celebrate the divine offices at that altar for the benefit of the testator's soul. He choses that his body be buried at the church of San Francesco, for which his executors should decide on the expenses. As executors he nominates the Prior of the Worthy Poor, the rector of the church of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera, whoever that is now or will be, and his daughter Chadiana. For the benefit of his soul, he leaves ten lire in aid of dowry to Francischina, daughter of Narlus olim ser Martini butcher of the parish of Santa Maria della Carità. For the benefit of his soul, he leaves 25 lire in aid of dowry for a woman from Borgo Panigale. For the benefit of his soul and the soul of his brother-in-law Bonacosa Arardi, he leaves five lire to clothe six poor persons, who will be chosen by the butcher Narlus olim Ser Martini of Santa Maria della Carità. He leaves 13 lire to be distributed among the poor for the benefit of the soul of his brother-in-law Bonacosa Arardi. He leaves three quarters of one butcher's shop in the meat market in the town square to his nephews, sons of his late brother. He leaves half of one butcher's shop in the said meat market to the son of a butcher. He leaves ten lire to his two neices [daughters of his deceased brother] for them to use when they marry or enter a convent. He leaves ten lire each to the two daughters of notary Paulus son of Ser Franciscus de Castagnolo for them to use when they marry or enter a convent. He leaves 50 lire for Zoleta, Cola, Bencevenis, and Nicolaus, his grandchildren and children of his deceased daughter and Francischinus de Medicis. He leaves 15 lire for one person to go and visit the shrine of St. James of Campostella. He leaves his servant Sante from the village of Monte Marino two silk gowns that belonged to his deceased wife. He also leaves Sante two towels, pillows, and cloth that his wife used. He leaves 30 lire to his cousin, Thomas, a butcher in the parish of Santa Maria della Carità, for him to ensure that the altar in the church of San Lorenzo be constructed within the next three years. He names as guardians for his four grandchildren his daughter Chadiana and notary Paulus, son of Ser Francescus de Castagnolo. For all of his goods and property, moveable and immovable, and all his rights and actions, both now and in the future, he institutes as universal heir his daughter, Chadiana. He declares that this is his last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Felice, in the presence of the following witnesses: don Andrea, parish priest of San Felice, Franciscus Jacobi, shoemaker of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, Azzolinus Petri of San Felice, Petrus Cursii of San Felice, Petrus Medaglini of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera, Nicolaus Johannis butcher of San Felice, Petrus ser Jacobi, agricultural worker [laborator terre] of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, and Petrus Guidonis Symonis from Borgo Panigale. Written by the notary Petrus Anthonii de Burellis. The notary and Franciscus Jacobi, designated as proctor for the testator, went to the Office of the Memoriali to register the testament on that day.

In the name of Christ, Amen. July 29, 1348. Phylippa, daughter of the late Aradus, wife of Philippinus Laurentii butcher and citizen of the parish of San Felice, healthy in mind and senses, but sick in body, declares her will thus. For the benefit of her soul, she leave three lire to don Johannes, chaplain of the parish church of San Felice, for masses for his necessities. She leaves 20 lire to her servant, Sante daughter of the late Senitius from the village of Monte Marino. She leaves 40 solidi to Nicolaus and Bencevenis, sons of Francischinus de Medicis, who was married to her deceased daughter Agnexia, which money they can have after her husband, Philippinus, has died. She leaves 40 lire to her grand-daughters Zoleta and Chola, daughters of her son-in-law Francischinus, which money they can have after her husband has died. For all of her goods and property, moveable and immoveable, and all her rights and actions, both now and in the future, she institutes as universal heir, her husband, Phylippinus. She leaves her daughter, Chadiana, 25 lire, which she can have after the death of her father, ordering Chadiana and the grandchildren Nicolaus and his siblings to be quiet and content with the legacies. She declares that this is her last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Felice, in the presence of the following witnesses: don Johannes, parish priest of San Felice, Blaxius Thomaxini of San Felce, Nasimbene Petri, shoemaker of San Felice, Bonjohannes Gregorii of San Felice, Azzolinus Petri of San Felice, Franciscus Jacobi, shoemaker of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, Johannes Johannis de Spilamberti, and Andreuccio Oradei de Donzellis of San Felice. Written by the notary, Martinus Johannis de Pizoy. The notary and testator went to the Office of the Memoriali to register the testament on that day.

In the name of Christ, Amen. July 23, 1348. Ursollina, daughter of the late Thomas Ursii and widow of the late Figliocarius, known as Carino, parchment maker in the parish of San Biagio, healthy in mind and intellect, but sick in body, declares her will thus. She leaves five lire for the benefit of her soul to be distributed by her heirs as they deem most useful for her soul, of which five lire, five solidi [20 solidi equaled one lira] are to go to Don Gerardus, her parish priest, and the rest are to be distributed as she said above. She leaves 20 lire for her daughter, Ysabeta, daughter of the late Figliocarius known as Carino, demanding that she be quiet and content with this sum. For all of her goods and property, moveable and immovable, and all her rights and actions, both now and in the future, she institutes as universal heirs, her three sons, Thomas, Johannes, and Bernardus, sons of the late Figliocarius. She declares that this is her last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Biagio, in the presence of the following witnesses: Don Gerardus, parish priest of San Biagio, Petrobellus, son of the late Brother Ugollini, draper of San Biagio [he is the brother of her daughter's husband, Mengorius], Johannes son of the late Petrus, parchment maker of San Biagio, Ser Bondus son of the late Guidone, shoemaker of San Biagio, Jacobus son of the late Picinus, parchment maker of San Biagio, Petrus son of the late Rummollus, parchment maker of San Biagio, Marcus son of the late Dominicus, baker of San Biagio, and Symone son of the late Gerardus, furrier of San Biagio. Written by the notary Johannes Laurentii Stephani. The notary and witness, Petrobellus, designated as proctor for the ill testator, went to the Office of the Memoriali, on that day to register the testament.

In the name of Christ, Amen. July 8, 1348. Figliocharius, known as Carinus, son of the late Brother Donisdei, parchment maker living in the parish of San Biagio of Bologna, healthy in mind and intellect, but sick in body, declares his will thus. He leaves five lire for the benefit of his soul to be distributed by his heirs as would seem to them best and most useful for his soul. Of these five lire, five solidi [20 solidi equaled one lira] should go to Don Gerardus, chaplain of the parish church of San Biagio, for masses for his soul. He leaves 20 solidi for his two nieces Mina and Cicillia. He returns to his wife her dowry of 130 lire [a modest dowry, typical of the artisan class] and gives her 20 lire as well as his bed and all the linen and woolen clothes that she had during her life and at the time of his death. He grants his wife usufruct [the right to use but not own] all of his goods as long as she lives in the home with their children, remains a widow, and does not ask for her dowry and the aforesaid legacies [i.e., the 20 lire, bed and clothing]. He leaves to his daughter, Isabeta, wife of Mengorius, son of the late Brother Ugollini of the parish of San Biagio, all that he had arranged as her dowry for her marriage to Mengorius. As a blessing [nomine benedictionis], he also leaves her 20 solidi. For all of his goods and property, moveable and immovable, and all his rights and actions, both now and in the future, he institutes as universal heirs, his three sons, Thomas, Johannes, and Bernardus. He declares that this is his last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Biagio, in the presence of the following witnesses: Don Gerardus, parish priest of San Biagio, Johannes son of the late Albertinus, draper of San Biagio, Petrus son of the late Johannes, parchment maker of San Biagio, Paulus son of the late Ugollinus, parchment maker of San Biagio, Bertone son of the late Jacobus, armorer of San Biagio, Guidone son of the late Simone, parchment maker of San Biagio, Tomas son of the late Brother Albertus, parchment maker of San Biagio, Bonacosa son of the late Leyus, draper of San Biagio, and Benvenutus son of the late Gerardinus, baker of San Biagio. Written by the notary, Johannes Laurentii Stephanii. The notary and Johannes Albertini, designated as proctor for the sick testator, went to the Office of the Memoriali on that day to register the testament.

Selections from the Health Ordinances of Pistoia [2 May, 1348]

No one, whether from Pistoia or elsewhere, shall dare or presume to bring or fetch to Pistoia, whether in person or by an agent, any old linen or woolen clothes, for male or female clothing or for bedspreads; penalty 200 pence, and the cloth to be burnt in the public piazza of Pistoia by the official who discovered it. However it shall be lawful for citizens of Pistoia travelling within Pistoia and its territories to take linen and woolen cloths with them for their own use or wear, provided that they are in a pack or fardle weighing 30 lb. or less.

The bodies of the dead shall not be removed from the place of death until they have been enclosed in a wooden box, and the lid of planks nailed down so that no stench can escape, and covered with no more than one pall, coverlet or cloth; penalty 50 pence to be paid by the heirs of the deceased or, if there are no heirs, by the nearest kinsmen in the male line.

To avoid the foil stench which comes from dead bodies each grave shall be dug two and a half arms length deep, as this is reckoned in Pistoia; penalty 10 pence from anyone digging or ordering the digging of a grave which infringes the statute.

So that the living are not made ill by rotten and corrupt food, no butcher or retailer of meat shall dare or presume to hang up meat, or keep and sell meat up in their storehouse or over their counter [i.e. whole carcasses cannot be displayed, only joints of meat]; penalty 10d.

1. Chronicle of Marco Battagli of Rimini
The chronicler of Rimini, from the northeastern coastal region, wrote that "father fled his son once he became sick, brother avoided brother, wife her husband, and thus the healthy fled from the ill."

[Original in Latin]
pater postea infirmum filium evitabat, frater fratrem, uxor virum, et sic de singulis sani infirmos penitus evitabant.

2. Chronicle of Guglielmo Cortusi of Padua
Guglielmo Cortusi wrote in his city chronicle of Padua that during the plague "wife fled the embrace of a dear husband, the father that of a son, and the brother that of a brother."

[Original in Latin]
uxor fugiebat amplexum cari viri, pater filii, frater fratris.

3. Tuscan Chronicle Account
The Storie Pistoresi announce that in Tuscany and especially in Pisa, "father abandoned son, children abandoned their mother and father, and one brother abandoned the other."

[Original in Italian]
lo padre abbandonava li figliuoli, e' figliuoli lo padre e la madre, e l'uno fratello l'altro.

4. Chronicle of Agnolo di Tura del Grasso
The Sienese chronicler, Agnolo di Tura del Grasso, left a poignant account of the plague. "It is not possible," he says "to describe this horrible thing with human speech." After noting truncated burial practices, without priest, appropriate liturgy or bells, he discusses the subject of child abandonment with the familiar words "father abandoned child, wife her husband, and one brother the other." He, himself, did not abandon his children for he tells us that he buried his five children with his own hands.

[Original in Italian]
El padre abbandonava el figluolo, la moglie el marito, e l'uno fratello l'altro.

1. Arrizabalaga, Jon. "Facing the Black Death: Perceptions and Reactions of University Medical Practitioners." In Practical Medicine from Salerno to the Black Death, 237-88. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
   This article examines the responses to the Black Death by doctors in the Western Mediterranean. Arrizabalaga studies the plague tractates written by university-trained physicians to determine how they viewed the disease and what could be done about it. He presents their learned discussion on the causes, symptoms, prevention, and cure of the disease, and demonstrates that they did not hesitate to confront the new epidemic with their intellectual tools, such as their university training, clinical experience, and the ancient and medieval Greek, Roman, and Arab authors at their disposal.
2. Benedictow, Ole J. The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2004.
   Benedictow re-examines medieval chronicle evidence and modern historians' demographic studies of the epidemic across Europe to argue for a new and higher mortality rate of 55% during the Black Death. His work is useful for its detailed discussion of the spread of the disease and its map. Benedictow maintains the traditional view that the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague.
3. Cohn, Samuel Kline, Jr. The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
   Cohn has done the most in recent scholarship to overturn the long-held view that the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague. Comparing the medieval to modern evidence of plague in India, Cohn argues that because of its high mortality, exceptionally fast spread and transmission, and the apparent immunity gained by survivors, the disease of the Black Death must have been some other disease. Cohn also argues that doctors were helpless and hopeless during the Black Death, but gained a new "Renaissance" confidence in their abilities to prevent and treat the disease after its second return.
4. Wray, Shona Kelly. "Boccaccio and the Doctors: Medicine and Compassion in the Face of Plague." Journal of Medieval History 30 (2004), 301-22.
   This article proposes that Boccaccio's descriptions in the Introduction to the Decameron which detail the activities of Florentines during the plague of 1348 are repetitions of medical advice present in plague tractates written in Italy during the epidemic. Boccaccio's Introduction can be read as a condemnation of doctors' advice to flee the ill, since to follow their advice for the preservation of one's own health would lead to the destruction of society. The article counters recent views of the doctors' response to argue that their tractates demonstrate professionalism and practicality in the face of the devastating epidemic. Using wills of medical practitioners in Bologna, it provides evidence that they remained at their posts during the epidemic.
5. Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. New York: Harper, 1969; reprint 1971.
   This is an older work that has remained a useful textbook for the classroom. Ziegler tells the history of the epidemic across Europe largely through chronicles and legislation produced during the Black Death. It presents detailed local descriptions, especially well done for England, and examines the responses and effects of the plague on the demography, economy, art, and psychology of the medieval European people.

by Susan Douglass
(Suggested writing time: 50 minutes)

Using the images and texts in the documents provided, write a well-organized essay of at least five paragraphs in response to the following question.

Describe and analyze the effect of the Black Death in 14th century Italy for its effect on families and children who became ill or who were survivors of parents and siblings who died, based on analysis of evidence in the documents.

• Did the social order break down completely during the panic produced by the epidemic?
• Were there social institutions that stabilized Italian society, and were efforts effective in preserving the social order and protecting its members?
• What additional evidence would help in deciding these questions (additional documents, types of records, etc.)?

Your essay should:

• have a clear thesis,
• use at least six of the documents to support your thesis,
• show analysis by grouping the documents into at least two groups,
• analyze the point of view of the documents, and
• recognize the limitation of the documents before you by suggesting an additional type of document or source to make your discussion more complete or valid.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following institutions for primary sources:

• Archivio di Stato di Bologna,
• Manchester University Press, and
• Penguin Books.

About the Author

Shona Kelly Wray is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her book, Communities and Crisis: Bologna during the Black Death, is forthcoming. Wray is also a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

About the Lesson Plan Author

Susan Douglass is a doctoral student in history at George Mason University, and also serves as education outreach consultant for the Al-Waleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. Publications include World Eras: Rise and Spread of Islam, 622-1500 (Thompson/Gale, 2002), the study Teaching About Religion in National and State Social Studies Standards (Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and Council on Islamic Education, 2000), and teaching resources, both online and in print, including and the curriculum project World History for Us All, The Indian Ocean in World History, and websites for documentary films such as Cities of Light: the Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain and Muhammad:Legacy of a Prophet.

The Black Death was the first and most lethal outbreak of a disease that entered Italy during the end of 1347 and the beginning of 1348 and then spread across Europe in the following few years. It is generally accepted (despite recent arguments to the contrary) that this most famous medieval epidemic was caused by bubonic plague. This disease, which was identified in the late 19th century, is endemic among some rodent populations around the globe today, but does not pose a major health risk due to the efficacy of modern antibiotics.

The situation, of course, was very different in the Middle Ages. The Black Death was brought on, it is believed, by an epizootic, or animal epidemic, among marmots in central Asia that caused the flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis) which passes the bacillus (Yersinia pestis) to leave its preferred host and search for new sources of food, that is, human blood. Rats brought infected fleas, the plague vector, into Europe on ships leaving the Black Sea and shores of the eastern Mediterranean. The plague entered European sea ports and traveled inland along trade routes. The effect was devastating. Historians estimate death tolls of between a third and a half of the European population. For medieval Italy it appears that some urban areas, such as Venice, Florence, and Siena, suffered staggeringly high mortality rates of over 50 percent.

How did people react to this awful catastrophe? The governmental records of Italian cities present a mixed picture of the actions of civic leaders in the face of plague. In some areas, cities rapidly passed laws that attempted to prevent the entrance and spread of disease. They renewed sanitation laws designed to reduce the presence of miasma, or bad air, which medieval people believed caused disease. Thus, laws curtailed the activities of butchers, tanners, or others who worked with animal carcasses that could rot and produce miasma. The mobility of people and goods, such as woolen cloths that may trap the miasma, was restricted. Other laws regulated the location of burials and disposal of corpses. In other cities, however, it appears that government was reduced to an ineffective shadow as officials died in huge numbers and efforts to replace them could not keep up.

Church records have revealed the actions of ecclesiastical organizations. Bishops all over Europe consecrated new ground for burials and arranged intercessory processions. Priests were called to celebrate masses, give sermons, and lead their parishioners in processions of prayer to beg for merciful relief from the wrath of God, which was generally believed to have brought on the epidemic. Clerics urged all individuals to confess, be penitent, and carry out acts of pious charity in order to pacify God. Thus, evidence can be found that the various communities in medieval Europe made strong attempts to counteract and deal with the crisis.

The popular view today of the Black Death, however, is one of social breakdown. This is because many chroniclers and literary authors of the time described the actions of townspeople in terms of panic, fear, and flight. Faced with a hideous—bubonic plague produces large, dark, and smelly swellings on its victims—and frightening new disease people fled to protect themselves. Chroniclers reported that doctors, clergy, and civil servants such as notaries refused to come to the aid of the ill. The chroniclers' accounts provide the most vivid picture of the social experience of this massive mortality and have become the standard description presented in World and Western Civilization textbooks.

These accounts are at their most evocative and poignant when they discuss a principal theme of the topos of social chaos, namely, the abandonment of family members, especially children. The family was the heart of medieval European society. For medieval authors, the abandonment of children by their parents meant the specter of a society that had come unraveled at its core. It is important, therefore, to try to determine what really happened to children during the Black Death. We must remember that many medieval chroniclers were religious men who wrote with a moralizing message. It is possible that many wrote their accounts of events that happened in the world around them not with the modern notion of objectively reporting the facts, but instead to advise their readers to change their ways and lead more pious lives.

This module presents a few typical examples of what medieval Italian chroniclers had to say about the experience of children and their families during the Black Death. We do not know what parents or children themselves said about their own experience because there remain few letters and no diaries from this time. Despite the paucity of descriptive sources, parents who were dying of plague often wrote wills in which they provided for the future of their families as well as their own souls. Students can compare the information —individually and in the aggregate—included in the chroniclers' literature with that contained in parents' wills.

The archives of the town of Bologna contain the largest known number of testaments written during the Black Death. The mortality rate in Bologna may not have been as high as in Florence and Venice, but it suffered at least a 40% drop in population. The presence and contents of testaments during the epidemic can give us some indication as to whether parents were considering the fate of their children when they lay dying during the Black Death.

These are formulaic documents that reveal little about the psychology of the testators themselves; they never even mention the fact that a massive epidemic was raging! Artistic sources are generally better at portraying powerful emotions, but there are no such sources that remain from the years of the Black Death. Instead, portrayals of themes related to death and morbidity became prevalent within a century of the Black Death as Europeans had become accustomed to the repeated outbreaks of plague.

In fact, the Black Death was the first of a long series of plague epidemics that the people of early modern Europe suffered until the mid 1700s. It was by far the worst episode and therefore worth investigating how the most vulnerable part of the population--children--were treated during a time of social upheaval.

This teaching module offers an array of evidence to investigate the experience of children during the Black Death and question the traditional view that the epidemic caused wide-spread social chaos resulting in the abandonment of family members, even of children by their parents.

The traditional view of the Black Death comes from the literary evidence on the breakdown of the family, represented here by Giovanni Boccaccio and contemporary Italian chroniclers. Encourage students to pay close attention to the terms used, noting their similarity, and to evaluate whether or not such accounts should be considered eyewitness reports.

The module then asks students to consider a legal source, testaments, written in Bologna during the height of the Black Death, in which testators name their children as heirs. Ask students to consider reasons why these wills were made and by whom. What were the legal requirements limiting the production of the source, the advantages and disadvantages of such sources? What can these four wills tell them about a general population?

One graph shows the number of extant testaments that were made in Bologna during the Black Death. The graph makes clear the impact of plague, but at the same time each will represents a gathering of at least nine people—the testator, notary, priest and at least six other witnesses—usually inside the testator's house. According to Roman law in effect in medieval Italy, women could not be witnesses, so we can only assume that they were present at the dictation of their family members' wills. We do know that many women, as mothers of children, made wills and they were supported in this by their families.

Discussion Questions

1. Compare the language used by Giovanni Boccaccio and by the chroniclers in their accounts of the experience of the Black Death.

• Even without understanding the Latin or Italian, try to look at what words and patterns of words are similar among these authors who lived all over the Italian peninsula during the same period. What do you notice about these accounts?
  
  Possible answer:
  These authors borrow heavily from each other, or, more probably, the chroniclers mimicked the words of one of the most famous literary authors of the time, Giovanni Boccaccio. The Italian chroniclers' job was to record the events that happened in their own town for posterity, but clearly they were also literary writers and as such would have some moral purpose or personal agenda to their writing that went beyond objective reporting.
• What kinds of problems might modern students of the Black Death come up against when using these accounts?
• What else would you like to learn from these accounts?
• Are you satisfied with using the information in these accounts in order to learn about the experience of children and their families in the past?

2. Compare the language of the four testaments.

• What words and information come from the testator himself or herself and what words are supplied by the notary who wrote up the testament?
• What kinds of problems does the legal language of testaments pose for the researcher?
  
  Possible answer:
  They tell little or nothing about peoples' emotions, concerns, and thoughts. In addition, the testator may have been influenced by the notary in deciding his or her bequests.

3. What information can you as researcher of the experience of the Black Death be satisfied with from the testaments?

• What information is problematic or vague?
  
  Possible answer:
  The specifics of the dictation of the will as a social event demonstrates that at least nine people, including testator, notary, and seven witnesses, were present. However, there is a fair amount of information that is not provided, such as the ages of the children. The testament mentions that they have occupations and at least some have families.

4. Envision the dictation of each will as it took place:

• How many people were there? Where were they?
• What were they doing?
• What happened during and after the testator declared his or her last wishes?
• What does this tell us about the behavior of these four people and their families during the Black Death?

5. With the graph in section B, these four wills are shown in the wider context of the city. Considering that each will represents individuals who have not fled or abandoned their families.

• What groups of people likely stayed in town, at home, with their families?
• What would you like to know about the wills in order to be sure that they reflect widespread behavior?
• How many people were in the town?
• How many would normally write a will?
• How many were parents when they wrote their will?

6. Compare the chroniclers' emphasis on parents abandoning their children with the information in the testaments and the image of the family in the "Dance of Death" woodcut.

• In the "Dance of Death" image, is the child being abandoned by his family?
• Is there evidence of abandonment in the four testaments and the graph of all extant testaments?
• What would you say was the experience of children and families in Bologna during the Black Death?

Lesson Plan: Children and Childhood During the Black Death

by Susan Douglass

Time Estimated: two to three 45-minute classes

Objectives

1. Evaluate the reliability of various types of primary sources in regard to the effects of the Black Death on children and their families.
2. Analyze and compare different types of available evidence on the physical and social affects of the Black Death.
3. Develop possible explanations for the differences between contemporary (or near contemporary) narrative accounts of the Black Death and other types of evidence.
4. Develop research questions that could lead beyond the current sources to suggest strategies for resolving the historical disputes raised by conflicting evidence.
5. Gather the evidence presented in the documents and create a summary of the experience of the Black Death in visual or narrative form.

Materials

• Paper, regular notebook or white paper for individual or paired work, butcher paper or poster board for group work.
• Computer with Internet connection for viewing primary sources and accessing "Wordle."
• Web links and settings to enable Wordle and/or TagCrowd; and a word processor for pasting the primary sources.
• Documents from Teaching Module prepared as handouts.

Day One

Hook
After introducing the topic of the Back Death, ask students to describe in a few keywords what they know about this occurrence in world history. Note the responses on the board.

Then ask students how historians learned about the plague from available evidence.

Make a list of possible sources of evidence the students identify. One type of evidence that might be surprising to students is a map that documents how widespread bubonic plague is today. (See 1998 plague reporting map from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.)

Explain that the class will examine several different types of historical evidence about the plague.

Activity
Divide the students into three groups, according to the three types of primary source textual accounts (the Decameron and the Personal Accounts from Italy; the Health Ordinance; and the Testaments).

Close Reading Activity
First, have each group (or individual students) read the sources. Then, use the free applets (Wordle or TagCrowd) to make Word Clouds from the following texts, simply by choosing "Create," pasting the formatted or unformatted text into a window and pushing "Go:"

• Decameron excerpt and the Italian Accounts of the Black Death; pasting separately from the English, but combining the original Latin and Italian texts
• The Health Ordinance of Pistoia
• Combined text of the four testaments, and the graph of wills from Bologna.

The purpose of this exercise is to help students to see the pattern of language use in the sources. The word cloud will help students identify keywords in the original languages when they appear with equal emphasis in English (e.g., padre, abbandonava). The aim is to see what ideas and tone writers conveyed to their audience, as well as to gain a sense of the memory of the event in the writers’ minds. Students should not substitute the word cloud for a close reading of the text, but use it as an aid. Working on the three groups of sources, use the following questions as a guide for close reading:

• What do the word clouds for the English and original Latin and Italian communicate about the effect of the plague on the society of the time? Identify keywords in both languages. Identify descriptive nouns and adjectives. Identify terms for people? Are they general or personal terms? What does this say about the plague as an event across society? [Ans. people are described entirely in terms of their relation to one another, not in terms of class, vocation, or name.] Then read the annotation to the source. How do Boccaccio and the chroniclers portray the effect of the plague on social relations? Imagine the scene they describe, multiplied across whole cities. Does Boccaccio indicate different reactions among different social classes? How does the Decameron excerpt contrast with the frame of the stories, that is, a group taking refuge outside the city? Noting that these are not eyewitness accounts, what role might memory play in the substance and tone of the accounts, and what role does literary or moral purpose play?
• What does the word cloud indicate about official views of the plague's causes at the time? What words and their frequency in the ordinance indicate beliefs about the spread of the disease? What words are missing which might reflect medical knowledge today? [Ans: germs, fleas, blood] Then read the annotation to the source. Despite their lack of knowledge of germ theory and insect vectors, how did the measures targeted in the ordinance reflect practical observations about the spread of the disease? Is the frequency of attention to clothing, fabrics, and the absence of cleanliness entirely misplaced? Do you think that such an ordinance helped in any way? Was it enforceable?
• What does the word cloud indicate about the tone of the texts and the events they record? Make a list of the most frequent nouns, verbs, and other words describing people (names, vocations, relationships). Does the text include descriptive adjectives? To what do they refer? Read the annotations to the sources. Imagine the scene and the setting in which these wills were drawn up [students may wish to create a tableau of the scene using drawn figures or themselves acting out the parts.] Was it a scene of panic? What persons were present, and what were their relationships to the patient? Who was absent from the scene, and why? What concerns did each person present have and how did they bring their concerns to bear in making the testament? [Ans: patients taking care of family wealth, care of children who survived, priests getting donations for the church, debtors being paid, family members receiving shares] How would the ravaging plague have altered the normal process of drawing up a will? Using the graph of wills made during the plague months, and taking into account the officials who had to be present at will-making, discuss the difficulties the Church and the city faced during the epidemic. How likely is it that many people died without wills, or without registered wills? What is unusual about leaving the family wealth to a small child, whether son or daughter?

NOTE: If at all possible, students should be encouraged to create word clouds individually or as a group, since the applet allows use of creative effects such as fonts, colors, and different word orientations that will inspire them to "see" the text in tone and substance. If desired, however, word clouds of these sources have been created and posted at:

• http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/789519/Black_Death_Chronicles-14th_century [original language]; http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/800349/Black_Death_Chronicle_translation-Italy_14th_century [translation of chronicles & Decameron excerpt];
• http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/800313/Black_Death_testaments-14th_century_Italy [testament texts];
• http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/800471/Health_Ordinances_of_Pistoia%2C_Italy_14th_century [Health Ordinances of Pistoia].

Following the individual or group work with the three different types of primary sources, ask students to give their impression of the effect of the Black Death on the social order, based on their set of documentary sources. Student responses should fairly clearly differentiate among the sources as to the effects, but also indicate common elements. The starkest contrast will be the scenes of impersonal, general breakdown of the social order in Boccaccio and the chronicles, compared with the orderly scenes of making wills in the homes of the sick, with an array of people present, personalized references, their attempt to keep families and relationships intact. How can historians today account for the difference? What role might memory, and what role might literary style play? The ordinance portrays an official response based on incomplete knowledge, but shows that practical observation had some value in defining preventative measures. What questions does the contrast in the sources raise? [EXAMPLES: Were priests willing to enter homes of the sick? How did they avoid the disease, or did they? How could there have been enough officials to witness and record wills during and after the epidemic? Could that account for the decline in numbers of wills after July?]

Project the "Dance of the Dead" images or print them onto a 1-page handout. Read the annotations. Noting that these images are not directly related to the actual event of the Black Death, but existed as an art form before and after it, reflect on the following themes related to these popular images from the period. What messages do the images portray? What words can you recognize in the text accompanying the mural? Assuming generally high infant mortality even without epidemics, do you think people were emotionally attached to their children, knowing they might be carried away suddenly? How might mortality have differed among social classes? What indications of social class do the images portray? As public expressions of memory, what do they reflect in terms of attitudes toward death, and what moral lessons do they seem to project?

Assign the Document Based Question below as an in-class essay or homework assignment. Follow your usual procedure for drafts, critique, revision, and finalizing.

Extension Activity
Use the World History For Us All teaching unit "Coping with Catastrophe: The Black Death of the Fourteenth Century, 1330 - 1355 CE" to assess the causes and effects of the plague in other parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world, and to see what historical source issues are raised by the materials in the lessons.

Differentiation

Advanced Students
Advanced students may be asked to search for additional documents and images on the Black Death, including fuller versions of the ones excerpted in the lesson. A few students might research the course of the disease to contribute knowledge about how long it took from exposure to the disease to death, and how frequent known outbreaks of plague were in the following centuries.

Less Advanced Students
Remedial students could be asked to focus merely on the documents in English, or on a limited selection of documents from each group. The document-based question can be modified to allow more time, to use fewer documents for their essay. They may also be asked to provide a culminating assessment in a form other than an essay, such as a visual, literary or narrative account that can be graded on how well it reflects use of evidence and comparison among the documents.